


What it Takes to Be a Hero (Bonding Week series)

by Nonbinary_dude_chillin



Series: Bonding Weeks [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: (Minor) Janus hate, Angst, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Angst, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Angst, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Angst, Deceit | Janus Sanders Angst, Grey, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Creativity, M/M, Roman Angst, Sort of major character death, Swearing, TW: Swords, but he’s basically just in a coma, mentions of hands and fingers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28740354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonbinary_dude_chillin/pseuds/Nonbinary_dude_chillin
Summary: Part 3 of the Bonding Week series!
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Bonding Weeks [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023493
Comments: 36
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guysssss!
> 
> I’m so sorry for the long wait, the holidays were... interesting this year. Anyway, I hope this was worth it!

“Fine. I guess you don’t want to see what happened to your fellow Dark Side.” Roman said, then he opened the door.

The rest of the sides stepped in but Janus just stared at him. “What happened to Remus.” He hissed.

“I didn’t do anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Roman retorted.

“Guys. Shut up.” Virgil snapped.

Roman and Janus shot each other glares before following the rest of them into the Imagination. 

They had appeared in the dungeon of the castle, which acted as a sort of gateway to the rest of the Imagination. Roman hoped and prayed that the lifeline was still intact, otherwise the entire Imagination would crumble.

“This way.” He whispered, “I bet he’s in the throne room.”

“What throne room?” Virgil asked.

Roman didn’t answer him, he was too busy trying to navigate the corridors of his own castle. God, why did he have to make it so confusing? Roman kept his eyes glued to the ceiling looking for the trap door that would get them out.

Everyone was on edge, it was probably the dingy dungeon that made them so jumpy. So when they finally reached the trapdoor, there was a collective sigh of relief.

“Okay. Everyone needs to be quiet.” Roman said, “I’ll cast a silencing spell, but you can’t talk.”

Everyone nodded and Roman waved his hand. Instantly he could feel the weight of the spell fall over them. It was almost like a really thick blanket.

The five of them climbed up through the trap door and hurried their way through the hallways to the other side of the castle.

Patton tripped more than once so they made sure to help him out. Roman’s heartbeat matched his footsteps, thumping hard.

As soon as they came into view of the huge throne room, Virgil slipped his hand into Roman’s.

Roman peered around a pillar and spotted his brother in one of the thrones. He was laying sideways in it, and picking his nose.

“Okay…” Roman whispered, turning back to the rest of them, “Here’s what we’re going to-”

“I know you’re here brother.”

Roman froze when he heard Remus’ voice ring through the hall.

“You’ve been here for at least fifteen minutes.”

Roman swallowed and made to step out from behind the pillar. But Virgil held him back.

“Roman don’t. We know that he’s not himself, if you-”

“Oh and Roman, I hope you didn’t bring any of your other friends. They’d be in big trouble if you did.”

Roman cast a look around at the group, Patton was looking scared shitless, Logan was trying to look composed, but failing miserably, Janus was looking conflicted, like he didn’t know wether to be frightened or not.

And Virgil.

Well Virgil’s expression was just ‘no’.

But Roman had to. So ignoring Virgil’s pleading face, he stepped out from behind the pillar.

He didn’t ever expect to meet his brother’s darker side. But here he was. Sitting in front of him.

Insanity.

“Oh there you are brother!” Insanity said, sitting upright and flicking the booger off his finger.

“First of all.” Roman said, “I’m not your brother.”

“Oh but you are!”

“No I’m not.”

“Stop kidding yourself. You know you are on the inside Roman… you’ve always known.”

Roman gulped, “Insanity.” He said slowly, “Stop. Trying. To. Mess. With. My. Head.”

“Oh but brother isn’t that what I do? It’s what we both do best!”

“No it’s not. I don’t.”

“Pshh.” Insanity giggled, “But didn’t you notice the change in energy here? The draft. That was all you darling.”

“That wasn’t me that was Pride.” Roman said sharply.

“But was it really?” Insanity asked, leaning closer.

“Yes.”

“But isn’t Pride you?” Insanity could tell that Roman’s defenses were getting weaker.

“N-no. He isn't.”

“Are you sure?”

“Whatever Insanity. Stop playing these mind games, that’s Janus’ job. Just tell me what you’re doing here.”

Insanity laughed again, and flopped back in his throne. “And why would I tell you that brother?”

“Stop calling me brother.” Roman said through gritted teeth. “And cut to the fucking chase.”

Insanity’s face dropped, “Fine. I was trying to give your little friends time to rethink their decision about coming with you, but I guess you just want to hurt them don’t you? In about one minute and thirty seconds I will be making a few… renovations to Thomas’ Imagination. You have that amount of time to leave.”

“What renovations?” Roman asked cautiously.

“Oh nothing. Just… clearing the place out.” Insanity looked directly at Roman when he said this, and the creative side knew exactly what was going to happen.

Roman stared at his once-brother. He didn’t look one bit different besides the fact that his eyes were jet black. But it hurt to know that someone that looked like Remus would do such a thing to his own creation.

Shaking his head, Roman rushed back to the others.

He lifted the silencing charm. “C’mon guys, we gotta hurry. Insanity’s going to destroy the Imagination.”

“Wait Roman-” Virgil said.

Roman didn’t say anything, instead he led them all the way back through the castle.

Strangely enough, as soon as they left the throne room a giant ticking clock started to chase them out.

“That must be how much time we have left!” Patton shouted. The sides sped down the corridors faster than ever before.

Roman’s chest heaved and tears stung his eyes, but he pushed on. He was determined to get his friends to safety even if that meant giving up everything he’d built for so long. He told himself to stop being pathetic, it was just stuff and his friends’ lives were worth more than that.

But it still hurt.

Because Insanity was going to destroy his safe haven.

When the trap door was in sight, Roman practically shoved the rest of them down into it.

He glanced back at the clock.

15 seconds.

Roman leaped into the trapdoor and hurtled down the latter.

14 seconds.

He landed roughly but heaved himself to his feet.

13.

Roman caught up to the rest of them.

12.

They sprinted past cell after cell.

11.

Patton tripped over a loose stone and fell.

10.

Everyone tried to go back for him but Roman shoved them further down the hall.

9.

Instead he himself went back for Patton.

8.

He ran a little slower, now that he was carrying his friend who had most likely broken an ankle.

7.

The door was still so far away.

6.

The rest of them were so close to it.

5.

Virgil was waiting for him.

4.

“Go!” Roman shouted. He took the rest of his strength to hurl Patton at Virgil.

3.

The anxious side caught him and swept through the door, looking fearfully back at his boyfriend.

2.

Roman was losing hope that he’d make it.

1.

And then Virgil was there, pulling him through the door and slamming it behind him.

They heard a rumble behind the door and the Imagination that Roman had known since childhood was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! This will probably be one of my shorted chapters! Hope y’all enjoy!

The five of them collapsed to the floor. Panting and gasping for breath. Patton was clutching his ankle, face screwed up in pain.

Roman quickly summoned a first aid kit. “Here.” He said, handing it to Logan. “Give me some gauze and a strong wrap.”

Logan handed the things to him, and Roman wrapped Patton’s foot tightly, “I don’t have time to see how bad it is, but we’ll do that later. We need to get out of here.”

“What? Why?” Patton asked.

“I’ll explain later.” Roman said, hoisting the morals side to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Roman could see a little grey circle starting to form on the Imagination door.

“Let’s get out of here. We’ll be safe in my room.” He said. He and Logan helped Patton up the stairs.

When they all got there, Logan and Roman laid Patton on the bed and the rest of them sat on Roman’s large beanbags.

Janus was looking unusually pale, and Roman knew that he must be horrified. Remus was the snake’s best friend, no matter how different they were.

The creative side looked at his boyfriend. Virgil was looking confused more than anything, and Roman had to admire his courage. He was scared out of his skin, but Virgil looked so confident.

After an awkward silence Logan spoke up. “Roman… I have suspicions… but what happened back there?”

Roman locked eyes with Logan, the most serious, emotionless side there was, and found fear on his face.

“Insanity happened. Remus’ other… darker side. Something triggered it. You know that everyone has their own triggers… and Remus has his. But I think I know what triggered it this time. It was Pride.”

“But… Pride wasn’t even there.” Janus said, “You were you, the whole time.”

“I know.” Roman said, “But, when I was in the throne room… I felt his presence… it’s hard to explain, it wasn’t coming from me. But more the space around me.”

Logan’s head shot up, “Wait. Roman, the throne room. Isn’t that where Remus found Pride in the first place?”

“Yeah…”

“So what if Pride’s simple presence leaves a trace. And Remus somehow picked it up.”

“That makes sense.” Virgil said, “And since we know that Pride is Remus’ trigger. He must have… lost control as he was in the same space Pride was.”

Roman nodded, he remembered when Remus found him and Pride in the throne room. It was only a couple days ago but it felt like ages…

… 

“Roman! Thank god I found you! Everyone’s looking for you princely dude.”

Roman spun around to see Remus walking up to him through the throne room. In his mind he silently begged him to leave. But his brother kept on walking.

Roman opened his mouth and out came words that weren’t his own, in a voice that sounded nothing like him.

“Ahh. Remus what a pleasure.”

Remus stopped dead in his tracks and gazed skeptically at Roman. “Yes. I am definitely a pleasure (especially to Logan)… is everything okay?”

Roman tried to scream ‘No!’ But the sounds wouldn’t even form. Instead he said, “Yes. Everything is perfectly fine dear brother. I’d say I take /pride/ in the fact that I am fine.”

Remus gasped, “Pride!”

Roman’s legs started moving against his will. “Yes. That’s me.” Pride hissed through Roman’s mouth. And he used Roman’s hand to reach for his sword.

The intrusive side noticed and reached for his own mace. “Look Pride. We both know what happened last time. Both of us got hurt, and so did Roman.”

Pride rolled his eyes, “You think I care about Roman? He’s been the host of this body for far too long. He’s useless.”

Roman knew that Pride knew that he was listening. And he knew that those words were meant to sting. Pride knew exactly how to keep bringing up his tigger.

“No he hasn’t.” Remus snapped. “You’re just a parasite!”

Roman didn’t see who struck first but suddenly Remus and Pride were swinging their weapons at each other.

Roman tried his best to mess with Pride’s chances. While Remus was fighting from the outside, he gave Roman a chance to fight from the inside.

Roman retreated to his mind and focused on dispelling the dark black cloud surrounding everything.

That’s when Remus’ eyes started glowing green, and Roman saw a gold mist surrounding the two of them. And it seemed to be coming from his brother.

He suddenly felt a renewed strength. He beat back the cloud with ease. Forcing it to the back of his mind where it belonged.

Then Roman suddenly found himself lying on the throne room floor with Remus by his side.

… 

“Roman! Princey! Earth to the Disney one!”

Roman blinked as fingers snapped in front of his face. “Wh-what?”

“You zoned out.” Virgil said.

“Roman.”

The creative side turned his head to Logan, who was looking more serious than usual. “Yeah?”

“Why did we come to your room? And why did you say ‘We’ll be safe there.’” Logan asked, looking Roman dead in the eye.

Roman turned his head away. “Well… I mean… that was over exaggeration… we’ll be safe in other places… I think.” He mumbled.

“What do you mean? What happened.” Janus said sharply.

Roman sighed, “Since Insanity blew up the Imagination… he did more than put it out of balance, if you think what Pride almost did is bad… Well, Insanity will have a much worse effect. When he destroyed it, he destroyed both my and Remus’ parts, throwing it into chaos. It’s not just out of balance it’s completely upside down.”

The rest of the sides looked shocked. Patton sat up, “What will happen to it?” He asked.

“I’m afraid it’s already begun.” Roman said grimly, “Since Insanity took over the Imagination, there’ll be no Creativity left. Neither good nor bad. Insanity will basically suck all of it out until he’s the only one who has any and he controls it. Causing Thomas to do terrible things. I can only hope that the Imagination’s lifeline will be able to keep him inside.”

Roman swallowed, almost afraid to go on. “There’ll be physical effects as well. It’ll start with the Imagination door. It’s already started to turn grey. Then it’ll spread to the hallway, and that kitchen, and the living room. Then each of your rooms. This is the only place we’ll be safe.”

“How so?” Logan asked. He alone seemed to be able to speak.

“I’m the only remaining creative side, so as long as I don’t touch the Grey, it won’t affect me or my room.”

Roman waited for that to sink in before he had to deliver another piece of bad news. “I can undo some of it, bits at a time. But once it spreads too far, it could become irreversible without Remus’ help.”

“Then… we’ll just have to get Remus back.” Janus said, “We just need to figure out how to get back into the Imagination, and then we-”

He stopped talking when he saw the look on Roman’s face.

“You don’t know his un-trigger do you?”

Roman shook his head and stared at the floor. See each of the sides had something that triggered their darker side, and un-triggered it. Roman knew Remus’ trigger, it was Pride, and Pride’s energy, but he had no clue what Remus’ untrigger was.

He only knew his own. And though he hated it, his trigger was feeling useless, like he wasn’t needed. But luckily his untrigger wasn’t hard to figure out. His untrigger was his brother’s energy. And Remus knew this, that why when he came to the Imagination that day, his eyes had glowed green. He was forcing his energy and livelihood out of him so that Roman could fight Pride.

But now Roman didn’t know what to do. Remus was stuck as Insanity and Roman had no idea what his un-trigger was.

“What are we going to do?” He whispered.

Virgil heard him and grasped his hand, “The best we can.”

Roman looked up and smiled, “I hope we can do this.”

“We will, he /have/ too. Thomas is at stake here. We’ll get through this.”

“I hope you’re right Virge.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick trigger warning guys: minor Roman angst, mentions of hands and fingers, and some Janus hate

The next morning Roman woke up cuddled into Virgil’s side. Slightly blushing, he sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He was a little confused when he saw he was sleeping in a beanbag chair, until he remembered the events of the night before.

He glanced over to see Patton sleeping close to Janus, snoring a big ole’ dad snore. Roman couldn’t say he was happy with the arrangement. He wasn’t exactly fond of Janus, but then again, he wanted Patton to be happy.

Roman heard a bang from the room next to his, he stood up realizing he wasn’t the only one awake.

He quietly slipped out from under Virgil’s arms and out the door. He walked over to where the bang was, and found it was coming from Logan’s room.

The door was cracked open and Roman peeked through it to see Logan packing things into big boxes.

He was working very fast, almost recklessly. Roman was confused until he saw that Logan’s face was screwed up and his eyes looked shiny.

Logan was anger working. Roman did that sometimes when he needed to get something off his chest.

Sighing Roman pushed the door open. Logan spun around wildly putting his hands up, then he saw Roman, and dropped them.

“Oh. It’s just you. Salutations.”

Roman looked closely at his friend. “Are you okay Lo?” He asked, knowing damn well that Logan would ignore his own problems.

“Yes. I’m fine, I was just packing up some things in my room in case, you know, the Grey ever goes this far.”

He turned around again, and Roman saw him roughly wipe his eyes. Then something clicked in his head.

He walked up behind the logical side and put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry.” Roman said, “We’ll get Remus back. I promise. I’d give up my own life to have him back with us. I’ll do anything to get him back to you Lo.”

Logan stopped moving all at once, going stiff and rigid. “Oh I know you will.” He said quietly, and Roman saw something flicker in his eyes.

Roman’s heart dropped. “Lo?”

“Yeah, yes, yes I know.” Logan said, “And I’ll help you. I’ll also do whatever it takes to get him back.”

He turned back to the creative side and Roman saw nothing but determination in his gaze, the flash from before was gone. Nodding, Roman said, “I’m glad. Now, let’s go back to the others.”

Logan sighed and picked up some of the boxes, “I agree, they must be up by now and we need to make a plan.”

Roman followed Logan back into his room, but somewhat cautiously. He didn’t know what he saw on Logan’s face, but it wasn’t good. Roman needed to keep a close eye on the logical side.

By the time Roman and Logan returned the rest of them had woken up.

They all looked like they hadn’t even slept, and Roman couldn’t blame them. The last few hours had been stressful, and the days to come… he didn’t even want to acknowledge how challenging they’d be.

“Alright.” Logan said, getting everyone’s attention. “We have two problems that need solving here. One, Remus is probably still trapped in the mind of Insanity, and we need to figure out his untrigger. Two, the Grey will slowly consume everything until it drains Thomas of his creativity.”

“Wow Lo. You could not have made that sound worse.” Janus said dryly, adjusting his hat.

“I’m just telling it how it is.” Logan said.

“Whatever. We just need a plan. Anyone have any ideas? Roman? You’re the creative one, shouldn’t you have an idea about that to do?” Janus asked.

“Umm, excuse me.” Roma said, offended. “I don’t see you doing anything, Mr. ‘I’m too aloof to help.’ Don’t pin this on me.”

“I just thought since you can’t manage to get Remus back to his former self, that you’d have another thing to try. Since talking to Insanity worked /so/ well.” Janus said, examining his gloves.

Roman clenched his fists. “Look snake. I did everything I could, I didn’t see you risking your neck to save us.”

“Okay okay okay!” Patton said, stepping between them. “Calm down. Both of you.”

Roman turned around and crossed his arms. “Whatever.”

Patton sighed, “I have an idea. Why don’t Janus, Logan and I go to Remus’ room and see if we can find any clues about his un-trigger. Virgil and Roman, you two head to the Imagination door and see how far the grey had spread.”

“That seems logical.” Logan said.

“C’mon Janus.” Patton said, pulling the dark side up. Roman cast him a final glare as the three of them left the room.

“I hate him.” Virgil said as soon as the door closed. “I hate him so fucking much.”

“I know.” Roman said, standing up as well. He held a hand out to Virgil, “He thinks he’s above everyone else.”

Virgil took his hand and Roman pulled him up, “Yeah well, he is a narcissist. Makes sense.”

As the two of them were walking down to the Imagination hallway, Roman remembered something.

“Virgil?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you… do you think /I/ am a narcissist?” He asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

Virgil stopped dead in his tracks and spun Roman around to face him. “Roman. Listen to me. You are no narcissist. Don’t think I don’t notice how you make accommodations for the rest of us. How you cut something important or a self care day out of your schedule just to spend time with the rest of us, or help Logan with something, or help Patton get his laptop started again, or sit with me when I feel down.

“A couple nights ago, I know that you had tickets to an online musical that you were going to watch with Thomas. But you cancelled at the last minute because Logan needed help on his research for the next video.

“And a few weeks before that, you had planned a self care day, to do your nails and treat your skin, but you skipped that as well, cause I was having a bad day. As soon as you heard that I was having a panic attack, you rushed up to my room, dropping everything. It wasn’t even a big one, but you still stayed with me the entire day, watching Disney movies and insisting that I take care of myself.

“And every single time Patton is feeling down, you’ll bake him a bunch of cookies and rush up to his room. Then you sing to him to make him feel better.”

Virgil took a deep breath, looking like he was trying to compose himself. If Roman was being honest, he hadn’t expected Virgil’s answer to be so aggressively… positive?

“Don’t think that I don’t notice those things Roman. You are the furthest thing from a narcissist. The others may think you’re full of yourself, but I know that you aren’t. And the others… they- they obviously haven’t met a real narcissist. Janus… well- Janus never did those things for me or Remus when I was still staying with them.

“I-I don’t want to talk about it too much, but… he would demand that we do things for him. Even if we were in the middle of something ourselves. And sure, if I was having a panic attack he’d help me, but then he’d make me feel bad for interrupting whatever he was doing. And with Remus… well Remus used to have these days where he’d lose control of his thoughts and maybe cut off a limb, or crack his skull. Janus would patch him up, but he’d do it reluctantly and he didn’t do anything to help Remus with his thoughts. He didn’t even take the scissors out of his room.

“So no Roman. You are not a narcissist, you’re the opposite. You’re empathetic and wonderful, and you care about all of us. Whether you admit it or not.”

Roman hadn’t expected Virgil to say all this, he hadn’t expected to feel these emotions. And from the look on his boyfriends’ face, Virgil hadn't either.

“I- Virgil…”

“Don’t you dare say that none of that is true!” Virgil said tightly, and Roman could see his eyes shining.

“I was just going to say… Thank you for trusting me. For opening up to me.”

Roman could tell that Virgil hadn't seen that one coming. “Oh- I- well you’re welcome? I mean I don’t usually open up about these things, but I just thought if you knew how a real narcissist behaved it would help you see that you aren’t one.”

The prince smiled softly, “Well, thanks again. I-I really appreciate it. I really appreciate /you/.”

Virgil chuckled and said, “You know Princey, normal people just tell their boyfriends: ‘I love you.’”

Roman’s cheeks tinted pink. “Well fine then, Virgil Sanders, I am now declaring my love for you!”

“Thats- not exactly what I meant, but okay. Love you too Ro. Now, let’s go check how much damage was done.”

Virgil started to walk away but Roman grabbed his wrist and spun him around again, “Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast.”

“What do you me-”

Roman cut Virgil off, by grabbing the front of his sweatshirt and kissing him. Virgil laughed, kissing him back, and the creative side smirked.

When they broke apart, Roman said, “Okay, /now/ let’s check how much damage is done.”

Roman and Virgil walked hand in hand down the hallway to the Imagination door. It was rather dark so they couldn’t see as well as they usually could. But they both moved carefully. Roman’s eyes scanned the walls searching for any signs of the Grey.

Suddenly Virgil jerked him back. Roman looked over to see Virgil staring at the ground, eyes wide. Roman followed his gaze and found the thing he was dreading.

The Grey was covering the floor in twisted streaks and crooked lines. They almost resembled fingers, but long, gnarled fingers. They were creepy, and Roman had never seen anything like them. The worst part was, they were slowly spreading. Up the walls and across the floor. Nothing seemed safe from the Grey.

Roman looked on behind the lines, to find a terrifying scene.

The entire Imagination Hallway was grey. The door which had been once covered in rainbows, and pictures of Remus’ and Roman’s creations, was now a bleak color.

Roman’s mouth felt dry thinking about what might happen to him if he touched the grey mass creeping toward them.

“Let’s get out of here Ro.” Virgil said tugging him back, he sounded as scared as Roman felt.

The two of them turned tail and quickly walked back down the hallway. Roman cast a look back at the cruel claws of Grey reaching for him, and a shiver ran up his spine. All of his instincts screaming at him to get as far away from the Grey as possible. And he listened to them, following Virgil back up to his room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ⚠️TW⚠️: naked baby dolls, Major Character Coma

When they got back, they found the other three there as well. They rushed over to Roman and Virgil.

“So? What did you find? How bad is it?” Patton asked.

Roman sat down in a beanbag chair and explained everything Virgil and him had seen. From the looks on the other’s faces, they were just as terrified as Roman was.

When Roman was finished Virgil turned to Logan, “So, what did you guys find?”

“Well...” Patton and Logan exchanged a glance. “We found something...” They both looked at Janus who crossed his arms and stared them down.

“No. You will not be showing it.” He said, turning his nose up.

“But Jan.” Patton said, “It could help us!”

“No. Those are his private thoughts. I’m many things, but I am not a privacy violator. That’s final.” Janus huffed.

“Please?” Patton gave Janus his best puppy-dog eyes, but Janus just looked away.

“You know that that doesn’t work on me.”

“Fine.” Patton said, sitting down and pouting.

“What exactly did you find?” Virgil asked.

“Remus’ diary, or journal.” Logan replied, holding a green and gold decorated book. Roman was surprised to see that the cover wasn’t as gruesome as he had expected it to be. It was actually covered in glitter and those tiny naked baby dolls.

“And we’re not reading it. Because it’s totally not a violation of Remus’ private thoughts.” Janus said, snatching the journal from Logan’s hand before the other’s could even reach for it.

“Jeesh.” Virgil said, rolling his eyes, “Why do you care so much now? It’s not like you respected our privacy before.”

There was an awkward silence before Patton said, “We did find something else. I’m pretty sure it’s yours Roman.”

Patton reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of red fabric. Roman took it and looked closer. Then he realized what it was. “This is my old sash! Why did my brother have this in his room?”

Patton shrugged, “I don't know. But I do know that I’m hungry. Why don’t we all just leave this stress here and go have some lunch?” He said brightly, although the rest of them could tell that it was false cheeriness.

Everyone agreed, having nothing better to suggest. The five of them trudged down the stairs, and they all glanced over to the Imagination hallway. Roman slowed down and looked closer, he couldn’t see the Grey quite yet, but he knew it was down there. Fingers reaching for him, ready to drain him of his personality.

He shivered and hurried to catch up with the rest of them.

Patton decided it was a good idea to have pasta for lunch. So he and Janus made some while the rest of them just sat there, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

When lunch was finally ready, Virgil helped Roman set the table. But right before they were about to eat, Janus put down his fork and said, “Patton… I need to talk to you.”

Patton looked at him, surprised. “Umm.. okay.” He picked up his plate and Janus’ “Let's go to my room.”

The two of them left with the rest of the side staring after them, confused. Patton never missed a famILY meal unless it was for something important.

Logan cleared his throat and stood up as well. “I too have something I need to address. I apologize, Virgil, Roman, but I need to go.” Instead of taking his plate, Logan dumped it into the sink and left in a hurry.

Virgil and Roman just sat there. “Has Logan been acting weird to you lately?” Virgil asked, taking a bite of pasta.

Roman bit his lip, “I mean yeah, a little.” A memory of that morning popped into his head.

“Hey Virge… there’s something you need to know…”

Roman told Virgil about that morning, and about the look he had seen in Logan’s eyes.

“Could it have been a trick of the light?” Virgil asked.

Roman shook his head. “No. It was more than that. It was-”

“Him?” 

“Yeah. I think so.”

“But how?” Virgil asked, setting down his fork. “I thought we were being careful and… listening.”

“Yeah I thought so too. But it might not be enough. Or we may be wrong about the whole- thing.” Roman said, putting down his fork as well, he’d lost his appetite. “And I’m pretty sure the ‘Remus being gone’ situation isn’t helping.”

Virgil dropped his head into his hands. “This can’t be happening again. And we can’t deal with two of them.” He groaned.

“I know.” Roman said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “We’ll figure something out. Or maybe Logan will be strong enough to hold on.”

“But he won't be!” Virgil yelled, looking up. “He doesn’t even know! We wiped both their memories! How could they possibly know how to stop it?”

Roman sighed, “I’ll admit that the memory thing wasn’t a good idea. It seemed like one back then. But we were all scared of what could go wrong if it happened again. So we just wanted to forget about it.”

“And it was my idea.” Virgil said bitterly, “I’m such a coward. If I hadn’t been so scared back then, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Roman said softly, taking Virgil’s chin and turning the anxious side’s face to his. “Nothing has happened yet. Don’t overthink this. And it’s not all your fault, the rest of us agreed with you. So don’t beat yourself up over it. And you’re not a coward.”

“Yeah, okay Princey.” Virgil said, turning his head away.

“Hey! You’re the one who got Thomas into a relationship with Nico! Without you we would never have done that. And when we were running out of the Imagination, you tried to go back for Patton, and then you went back for me. That’s bravery.”

“Yeah but I was still scared out of my skin. Just like I was back then.”

“Coming from a Gryffindor, (we’re always brave you know),” Roman winked and he saw Virgil trying to suppress a smile. “The meaning of bravery isn’t the /absence/ of fear. It’s the overcoming of the fear that makes you brave. And you’ve shown that you can do that. That you /can/ do that.”

Virgil looked back up and met Roman’s gaze. Roman smiled at him. And Virgil huffed out a little laugh. “What would I do without you Princey?”

“I really don’t know.” Roman said, playfully poking his boyfriend.

“Hey!” Virgil protested, poking him back.

Roman dove away and poked Virgil in the ribs. Virgil doubled over and glared at him, “I’ll get you for that.”

In a flash, Virgil had picked up his barely touched pasta and dumped it on Roman’s head.

The princely side was sitting there with spaghetti sauce dripping off his head while his boyfriend was cackling with laughter.

“Oh you /don’t/ want to start that with me!” Roman said. Wiping sauce from his eyes, he took his own bowl of spaghetti and poured it down the front of Virgil’s shirt.

Virgil gasped and it was Roman’s turn to laugh. But his giggles didn’t last for long; Virgil had picked up the pot of pasta. Roman screeched as noodles were dumped on him.

He whipped around to see Virgil backing away from him, tears of laughter in his eyes. Roman grabbed a handful of green beans and was poised to throw them at Virgil when he noticed something.

Behind Virgil, the Grey was creeping into the kitchen.

Time seemed to slow down.

“Virgil!”

Roman dropped the green beans and lunged for his boyfriend. Surprised, Virgil lurched backward, tripping over the edge of the table. He waved his arms widely trying to catch something, anything.

Then he saw the look on Roman’s face and knew there was something terribly wrong. He flung out a hand and grasped Roman’s.

For a moment Roman thought that they were safe, until he realized that there was still pasta sauce on his hand.

His boyfriend’s hand was slowly slipping out of his. He gripped harder but that just made Virgil slip faster. What’s worse was that Roman’s didn’t have good footing on the tile floor.

Virgil, who had now realized what was behind him, was looking at Roman with pure terror.

“Don’t. Move.” Roman hissed. He slowly moved his other hand over in an attempt to grip Virgil’s hoodie.

But Virgil’s hoodie was slippery with sauce too. Roman did his best to hold on.

Just as he was getting a grip on his boyfriend, his foot slipped even more. Roman’s heart was in his throat as he locked eyes with Virgil again. Virgil looked at him, then down at the floor. When he looked back up, Roman knew exactly what his boyfriend was thinking.

“Don’t you dare! Virgil no! I can pull us up! DON’T-”

But it was too late, Virgil had already let go.

Roman watched in slow motion as he fell down toward the Grey.

“VIRGIL! NO!”

Then Virgil hit the ground.

Roman watched in horror as the Grey quickly swept over him, the Grey reaching everywhere. It crept up Virgil’s legs then his arms, turning them a dingy, bleak color.

It spread everywhere, making Virgil look like an alien. His entire body motionless and drained of any life. Any creativity.

Virgil looked so scared as the Grey moved toward his face. “I’m so sorry Roman…”

Roman tried so hard to resist the urge to grab Virgil and pull him out. And he almost gave in, but he had to remind himself that he was the only one who could stop the Grey from engulfing Thomas’ mind.

But it physically hurt him to see Virgil like this.

The last thing untouched were Virgil’s beautiful brown eyes, when the Grey finally reached them, both held tears.

Then it started seeping in, slowly turning everything, not gray, but ink black. Roman closed his eyes refusing to see any more of it.

“No. No, don't go. Please.” He whispered, holding onto a false hope that it was all a dream.

And when he finally opened his eyes, he was staring at a completely different being. Skin Grey and eyes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....... I know I know I know, y’all prolly hate me for doing this, but hey, it’s how the story needs to go!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter is a bit angsty just a warning

Roman stood frozen in the kitchen, eyes blank, staring at nothing.

He heard a crash coming from up the stairs, “Roman! Are you okay!? We heard yelling.” Came Patton’s voice.

“What happen-”

Patton let out a strangled gasp. “Wh-how-wh- NO!”

Roman snapped his head up in time to see Patton reach for Virgil. He reacted instantly, leaping over the Grey and bowling Patton back into the wall.

“Patton you can’t! Did you see what happened to him!?” Roman shouted.

Despite his warnings Patton kept struggling, “Roman- let go of me! Virgil needs-needs help. ROMAN FUCKING LET ME GO!”

The creative side was shocked that Patton had said a curse word; he almost let go. “Patton, please stop. It’s too late, there’s nothing we can do.” He said, and he could hear his own voice breaking.

Patton stopped and stared up at Roman. Roman looked away and got off of his friend. “I’m sorry.”

“What happened?” Logan said, Roman hadn’t realized that he was there.

Roman didn’t respond, instead he hung his head, too afraid to look at anyone directly. He slumped back to the floor, legs giving out. He no longer had any energy, it seemed to be sucked out of him. What was he going to do now? Virgil was gone.

He had no one.

He watched Logan’s feet walk over to the edge of the Grey. Everyone was silent for a long time. And Roman finally had the courage to look up.

When he did he found Patton crying quietly into Janus’ shoulder. Logan was standing stone still, staring down at Virgil.

“We have to move him.” Janus said after a while, “We can’t leave him here.”

Roman rounded on him, wanting to take his anger and despair out on someone. “Like you care about him Janus.” He spat, “Don’t even think about trying to look sad that he’s like this! You never gave two shits about his well being before this! So don’t talk like you're going to miss him. You’re nothing but a liar and a cheat! And you manipulate people into doing you bidding! It’s not fair Janus! YOU’RE JUST LIKE A FUCKING PUPPETEER!”

As soon as he said it, Patton snapped his head up. He gave Roman a deadly look, and Roman slapped a hand over his mouth.

Roman looked for signs that Janus had heard the last part he said, but Janus was just staring at the floor.

“You know what Roman. You’re right. I am a liar, and a cheat.” Janus said, finally looking up. “But at least I didn’t let this happen. Look what you’ve done.”

“Don’t fucking turn this on me-”

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!” Patton yelled. “There’s no point right now! You’re at each other's necks and it’s not helping anyone!”

Both Roman and Janus stopped and looked over at the morals side, who was looking at them like a father looks at a child if they’ve done something wrong.

“Sorry.” They both mumbled, but shot glares at each other when Patton’s back was turned.

“Now that that’s done.” Logan said turning around. “I think we can move him.” He gestured to Virgil as the rest of them looked on, confused.

“What?” Roman said, “But won’t the Grey spread?”

“It might. But it also might not. And we can’t just leave him here.”

“I agree with Logan.” Patton said, “But won’t we be infected too if we touch him?”

“That’s where Roman comes in. He’ll have to levitate Virgil to the couch, and we can test out our theory about how it spreads.”

“So- I just levitate him to the couch? That’s it?”

“Yes. I don’t know what was so hard to understand about my statement.”

“And you’re sure this is gonna work.”

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose, “Roman just do it.”

“Okay…”

Roman walked up to Virgil, though he still couldn’t look. So instead he closed his eyes and concentrated hard.

Virgil was lighter than Roman had expected. Like, way lighter. Almost inhumanly light. Was it a side effect of the grey? Roman didn’t know.

Roman carefully put Virgil on the couch and let out a sigh. He opened his eyes and stared anxiously at the space around Virgil.

It didn’t turn Grey.

The tension left Roman’s shoulders and he slumped over, flopping down on the other chair.

“So, the conclusion is that the grey does not spread after it has hit a side’s body.”

Roman flinched, “Could you not phrase it like that Lo? We all know you’re a nerd, but seriously take it down a notch right now.”

Logan adjusted his tie, “I was just trying to be scientific.” He huffed, sitting down as well.

“So… what do we do know?” Patton asked.

“Well, we have three things to do.” Logan said, “Find Remus’ untrigger, find a way to stop this Grey and get Virgil back to his original self.”

“Great.” Janus said, “Just fantastic.”

“Wait Roman-” Patton said, “I thought you said you knew how to stop the Grey, or something like that. Can you revive Virge?”

Roman nodded, “I can’t stop the grey without Remus. I can only stall it. And even if I could banish it, I don’t know how it would work on a /side/. There’s too much at stake.”

“So… were stuck.”

“Yup.”

“Wait!” Patton exclaimed, “That’s it! Janus! Remus’ diary!”

“N-”

“Please Jan. This might be the only way we can stop this! You have to let us read it!”

“There’s no way, those are his private thoughts.” Janus said, crossing his arms.

“Janus please.” Roman said, “It might be the only way we can save Virgil… and- you do owe him.”

Janus looked Roman dead in the eye, and Roman stood his ground. Finally Janus relented.

“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Roman jumped to his feet and ounces up the stairs, Patton close behind him. He burst into his room and went straight (gay) for his desk.

There sat his brother’s diary, Roman snatched it up and started flipping through the pages. He tried to avoid anything that Remus might consider private.

Like the very detailed descriptions of sex dreams that he’d had with almost everyone.

“Wait! Look at this!” Patton said. Roman looked over, he was pointing to the cover of the book.

Roman flipped to the front. “What?”

“There’s a little pocket here…” Patton took the book and tried to pry off the cover.

By now the other two sides had joined them and looked interested. When Patton finally managed to get the over off, they all crowded around.

There was a small slip of folded paper there.

“See! I told you there was something there.” Patton said proudly and Janus picked up the paper.

He gasped.

“What! What is it?” Roman asked excitedly, surprised that there was actually something on it.

“It’s actually his untrigger.” Janus said, and Roman half thought he was bluffing as usual.

Janus flipped the paper around to show them, and sure enough, the top read. ‘My Untrigger.’

“Unfold it!” Roman said.

Janus nodded and unfolded the bottom. Everyone leaned in, hoping for the answer to their problems.

But instead they got: ‘I love my brother. No not in that way stupid. I might be disturbing but I’m not /that/ gross. Also, did I ever mention I’m the one that gave him his first sash? He’s probably going to need it for something important.’

“Well.” Logan said, “That was thoroughly disappointing, and mildly cryptic.”

“Yeah.” Janus sighed, “I totally didn’t think that we were getting somewhere.”

“C’mon guys!” Patton said, “We can’t give up yet! Here, umm… let’s go check Remus’ room again! There’ll probably be more clues there!”

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” Logan said, “Fine. Let’s go.”

… 

The four sides spent the rest of the day searching for something, anything, that might be able to untrigger Remus. But as expected, they came back empty handed and defeated.

Roman went to bed that night utterly exhausted. He had lost his brother, and now his boyfriend. He didn’t know what to do anymore. Everything was just a confusing jumble.

Roman could tell that he wasn’t the only one that cried himself to sleep that night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Martian Luther King day! (To those in the US)

The next morning Roman was woken up from a loud yell that came from the stairs, he sprang to his feet and ran out the door.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he came face to face with Patton who was looking scared. “What happened?” Roman asked, groggily, still not fully awake.

“Just come on.”

Patton grabbed Roman’s arm and hauled him back to his room. Patton crossed the floor and shook both Janus and Logan awake. “There’s something you all have to see.” He said.

Logan coughed, “Wait Patton I-”

“Just come on!” Patton snapped, “All three of you!”

Blinking the rest of them nodded and followed Patton out the door. The fatherly side never got cross, and when he did it was usually because he meant business. And the other’s knew not to get in his way.

Patton led them down the stairs and stopped dead right at the bottom. Roman nearly toppled into him.

“What was that fo-holy shit.”

Patton didn’t even reprimand him for saying a curse word, his eyes were on the scene in front of him.

It was the Grey. It had spread so far in the middle of the night. It had completely covered the living room and was creeping up the stairs now. It seemed to be moving faster than before and the sides slowly backed away from it.

“How long until it covers the entire mindscape?” Janus asked.

“With the speed it’s going, assuming that it’s getting continually faster… I’d say we have about six hours.” Logan replied.

“SIX HOURS!?!?” Roman shrieked. “BUT WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!!!”

“Do you think that the Grey cares?” Janus asked bitterly, “No. We’re all doomed.”

“And I thought I was the dramatic one.” Roman muttered.

“You are, I was just stating facts.”

“Stating facts!? I-”

“WOULD YOU TWO STOP IT!?” Patton shouted. “ALL YOU TWO DO IS ARGUE AND I’M SICK OF IT! CAN’T YOU TWO GET ALONG!? I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IF MY BOYFRIEND AND MY BEST FRIEND COULD GET ALONG!”

“B-boyfriend?”Janus asked, he suddenly seemed a lot less big and scary to Roman.

“Yes!” Patton said exasperatedly. “What? Did you think I was going to kiss you and then /not/ date you?”

Roman who was surprised at hearing Patton use sarcasm, just said: “You kissed him?”

“Of course!”

“I hate to interrupt this disgustingly romantic conversation.” Logan said, “But we have a situation here.”

He pointed to the bottom stairs and everyone looked down. The Grey was coming even closer.

The four of them ran back up the stairs.

“Okay we need a plan and fast.” Roman said, “Logan? You’re the smart one, any ideas?”

“I do have one. But it would require a lot more time. And we don’t currently have that.”

“I have one.” Patton piped in.

“Okay, go ahead.”

“I think we just need to convince Insanity to stop the Grey. If we can do that then we have more time to change him back into Remus.”

“Do you really think Insanity will be able to be swayed?” Roman asked. “We tried before and it didn’t work. Instead he caused all of this and…” Roman glanced down at the couch, where Virgil lay motionless. “That.”

“I don’t know… I mean. I can be very persuasive sometimes, and so can Janus.”

“But we can’t guarantee that it’ll work.” Logan said.

“Do you have a better idea?” Patton asked.

Logan sighed and shook his head, “Although this might not work, I think it’s the best shot we have.”

“You’re right Lo. Sometimes we have to wing it, take a chance. You know?”

Hearing those words come out of Patton's mouth, made Roman feel like a coward. Everyone else was so courageous, so willing to leap into the unknown. But Roman just felt like curing into a ball and hiding until this was all over.

“Looking at our timeline we only have one shot at this.” Logan said, “One time to fix this. We have to get this right. So Roman, can you clear a path through the Grey to the Imagination? Then we can get inside, find Insanity and convince him to stop the Grey.”

“Yeah, I think I can do that.” Roman said, pushing down the oncoming feeling of dread.

“Okay, then let’s go.”

“Wait what?” Roman spluttered, “Right /now/?”

Logan rolled his eyes, “We don’t have all day you know.”

“Yeah… yeah- yeah okay let’s- let’s go.”

Roman had read about what to do if the Grey ever started spreading. When he was twelve he had picked up a book with a pretty looking cover in the Imagination. He thought it would just be a regular romance novel, but it turned out to be something much more informative than that.

It told him what to do if Thomas’ mind ever started to lose it’s creativity. It told him that he and his brother, Remus, could stop it. So he kept reading to find out more and more.

It also held valuable information about the lifeline of the Imagination.

And now- well… now he was grateful that the book had appeared in the first place.

Taking a deep breath turned around to face the Grey, and closed his eyes. Then he reached down deep to the core of his creativity and energy: his spirit. 

And he let it lose.

He could feel his mind fill with creative thoughts. He would usually do this whenever he needed a good idea for a video, but now he was doing it for a much more important reason.

The thoughts wizzed and swirled behind his eyelids and per usual it was hard to find one to grasp onto.

But he eventually found one and he held tight to it.

It was an idea for a video about addressing the different points of view, apparently he had gotten this idea from a Ted Talk. ‘The Danger of a Single Story.’

Roman examined his idea closer, trying to memorize it before it slipped away again into the whirlpool of thoughts and ideas.

Suddenly there was a gasp from the others that startled Roman into opening his eyes.

“R-Roman…” Patton stuttered. “Look.”

He pointed to Roman’s chest and the princely side looked down to find a sort of gold Mist spiraling out of him. He would have been just as surprised as the others if he hadn’t read about this in the book.

The mist slowly swirled down to the ground and hovered just above the Grey. Then it sank down.

The reaction was instantaneous. Roman felt a huge weight on his chest, literally. He almost collapsed from the pressure of it all, the others had to grab his arms to keep him upright.

He glanced down at the mist. It seemed to be almost battling with the Grey, clearing a spot on the floor and beating the Grey back. It had cleared almost a circle and in that circle was a patch of the carpet, or, how it had looked before the Grey had infected it.

“Roman… I think you need to do whatever you did again.” Logan said. “I think we can clear a path through this Grey.”

Roman nodded and closed his eyes, letting his energy loose once more.

This time he was able to grab an idea faster. This one was for a fanfiction. A Disney one. Basically all of Roman’s favorite protagonists stumbled on one another one day and became good friends. Then there came a threat from all of Roman’s favorite antagonists (the hot ones). And they all battled it out from there.

“Roman. I think it’s working.” said Janus.

The creative side opened his eyes a crack and sure enough, there was a bigger space cleared on the floor again. Roman again felt a heavy weight settle on his chest.

But he was spurred on by his success so he kept going. He kept finding more and more ideas that he kept in his head. And soon enough, there was a path cleared through the Grey.

Roman suddenly had the overwhelming urge to walk along the path that the Mist had cleared.

“C’mon guys.” He said, taking the first step onto the path. His chest was heavier than ever, and was starting to hurt. There were little pinpricks along with the weight now and he was struggling to breath.

The other’s stayed close behind him, helping him across the path. As they moved further along, the pain seemed to decrease. When Roman looked behind he saw that the path they had already walked was back to the Grey.

Roman gritted his teeth and pushed on. He had to do this, he had to make it this far. The rest of them were counting on him.

“Once… we reach… the… Imagination door… we should be fine… I don’t think… the Grey… affects there… not with… Insanity there…” Roman grunted, taking another painful step.

It was a rather odd sensation, being weighed down from the chest. But he didn’t have time to worry about that now.

At long last, the four of them finally reached the Imagination door. The weight in Roman’s chest had almost disappeared by now. But he was still breathing hard, and it felt like he had just run at least three marathons.

“Are you okay?” Patton asked anxiously.

Roman nodded, still too out of breath to form words.

“Are we free to go in?”

Roman nodded again, taking a huge breath. “Yeah, and we should be careful when we go in there. It’ll be completely different.”

He closed his eyes and felt the weight on his chest again, although it was small this time. He flicked his eyes open to find the doorknob surrounded by the gold Mist. Roman reached for the doorknob of the Imagination door and almost chickened out. But he reminded himself that his brother was in trouble and needed help.

He turned the knob and motioned for the rest of them to go in. He cast a final glance around at the room, very well knowing that it could be his last time seeing it, then followed the rest of them into the Imagination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all take today to read up and learn about Dr. King’s life! Have a good one!


	7. Chapter 7

Roman stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he got a good look at the Imagination.

It looked…

Exactly the same.

“What?” Patton said, voice Roman’s thoughts. “I thought he destroyed it…”

“I did too.” Roman said, closely inspecting the walls of the part of the castle that they had come out in.

See the Imagination door spawned in a random spot in the main castle every time someone entered. And the castle kind of served as a doorway to the rest of the Imagination.

At least that’s what happened when Roman and Remus were in charge. They liked to spice things up and try to guess where the door would spawn next.

But now that Insanity ruled, Roman knew that the Imagination would be much more unpredictable than just a changing door.

“Is this… the kitchen?” Logan asked.

“Yeah I think so. It looks exactly the same.” Roman said, running his fingers along the cracks in the walls.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the creative energy that should be holding the Imagination together. But he couldn’t even find it.

“What can’t you find?” Patton asked.

Roman jumped, startled. He must have been thinking out loud. “There should be some sort of creative, magical bond holding the Imagination together. We call it a lifeline, it’s basically where the majority of Thomas’ creativity is stored. And that’s how Remus and I keep the Imagination together. And we kept it in a room at the heart of the castle, so I should be able to feel it… but I can’t seem to find any trace of it.’

But it can’t be completely gone, cause I’m not drained yet.”

“What does that mean?” Patton asked nervously.

“Remus and I are directly tied to the lifeline, if anything were to happen to it, we’d be Grey too.”

The wheels in Roman’s head were spinning, trying to make sense of it all.

“And since Remus’s body is hosting Insanity that means that he hasn’t done anything to it. But I still can’t feel it… so that must mean that he’s disconnected it from the Imagination. And… the Imagination isn’t held together by Thomas’ creativity anymore.”

There was silence. Then, “Well then, since the Imagination obviously still exists… what /is/ holding it together?”

“Insanity.” Roman said grimly, “And we need to find him before he realizes that we’re here and brings the whole place down on us like before.”

“Anyone else feel like they’re getting way too much information in too little time?” Janus grumbled, “Why didn’t you bother to tell us before?”

“I didn’t think it was all that important. And I didn’t want you guys to worry more than you had to. Remus and I just wanted to keep it a secret so you wouldn’t have to be the ones to stop it. But it doesn’t matter right now, what matters is stopping Insanity.”

“Then we best get moving.” Logan said, decisively taking a step.

Roman grabbed his sleeve before he could go any further. “Are you forgetting what I just said!? /Insanity/ rules this place now. Be careful, you don’t know what might happen.”

Logan looked embarrassed as he fixed his tie, “You’re right. Let’s do this the smart way.”

The quartet slowly made their way down to the throne room as Janus suggested. That also was the best spot to start looking for Insanity. They came across many traps set for them. But thanks to Logan’s uncanny ability to predict when and where something might go off, they were able to get to the throne room safely.

“Okay.” He whispered when they got there. “What’s our plan?”

Janus rolled his eyes, “What plan Princey? It’s not like we came prepared.”

Roman looked over his shoulder to see Insanity snoring on the throne. “You’re right. We have to think of something quick. Any ideas?”

“You’re the idea man. Just do the thing you did to stop the Grey or something.”

“How do you know what I was doing?” 

“You were mumbling about it, duh.”

“Whatever. And it doesn’t work like that. I can’t conjure up a specific idea, they come at random.” Roman snapped back.

Janus yawed and fixed his gloves, “Then what /good/ is it.”

Roman took a deep breath, trying to stop his anger from pouring out. “Listen here /Deceit/. I don’t see having any other abilities than manip-”

“Be quiet.” Logan said, “This isn’t helping anyone.”

“Logan’s right.” Patton said, taking Janus’ hand, “We need an actual plan.”

“You’re right. We don’t have time for petty arguments, Roman.” Janus said.

“Me!? I don’t think so! You-”

“Roman!”

“Fine. Whatever.” 

“Okay.” Logan said, in his ‘I mean business’ voice. “Here’s the plan…”

The three of them leaned in to see what Logan had to say, it wasn’t much but it was something.

“And you’re sure this is going to work?” Janus asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Logan replied grimly.

He walked out from behind the piller. Roman’s eyes widened and he scrambled after the Logical side.

“Just follow my lead.” Logan whispered before raising his voice to a shout. “Insanity!”

Logan marched up to the side in the chair, and Roman was reminded again of just how scary Logan could be.

Insanity sat up and opened his eyes. Blinking, he looked down at the two before him. Then laughed. “Ah, I was expecting a visit soon. But from more of you. Are you all that careless that the rest of you were picked off already.”

Logan looked surprised. “How-how did you know?” 

“Pfft. It’s easy to tell. You’re all idiots.”

Roman was really buying Logan’s act. Just goes to show how good of actors they all were, even if Logan was a bit of a nerd.

Roman knew it was his turn to jump in. “It doesn’t matter that there’s only two of us left. We’ve come to demand that you stop the Grey!”

Insanity snorted, “With what army?”

He laughed when the two of them were silent.

“Exactly, there’s no way I’m stopping the Grey. you two are going to have to figure it out on your own or perish. I honestly don’t care either way.” Insanity slumped back in his throne. “You’re dismissed.”

“Hold up just one second!” Roman said angrily, “You can’t ‘dismiss’ me! This is /my/ castle jackass!”

“Does it look like I care?” Insanity sniffed, “Now out! Before I- HEY!”

He suddenly jerked to the right. Revealing Patton with his hand in Insanity’s pocket.

He looked livid. Grabbing Patton by the collar he hurled the morals’ side onto the floor in front of Roman and Logan.

Roman rushed to Patton’s side and crouched down. “Patton! Patton Patton! Holy shit! Are you okay!?”

“Yeah…” Patton groaned, sitting up and rubbing his head. “Just a little winded kiddo that’s all.”

His eyes flicked back over to Insanity who looked extremely angry. “So there’s more of you!? And you tried to steal from me!?”

“In all fairness, you are trying to destroy the mindscape.” Logan said evenly. Standing his ground even as Insanity advanced.

“Don’t get smart with me Mastermi-”

“Oi Insanity!”

Everyone’s head swiveled to look at where the voice was coming from. Janus was standing behind the throne, dangling a gold pocket watch in front of his face.

“What! How- How did you get that!?”

“Oh it was quite simple really.” Janus said, looking bored. “Patton was a decoy and I was on the other side. You really need to step up your game.”

Insanity chuckled, “And you really think petty theft is the way to get me to stop the Grey? Pathetic.” 

“Well.” Janus replied, adjusting his gloves for the fifth time that day. “Theoretically, yes.”

He held up a hand before Insanity could say anything.

“You villains are always the same. You have a troubled past, decide to get revenge, and end up failing. And the troubled past thing? Bullshit. Usually the villains are just assholes. You also really love being rich for some reason. And this gold watch, well one: it’s shiny (that also seems to appeal to you all) and two: it’s supposedly the highest of riches in most movies statistically speaking. I’m assuming that’s why you have it. It’s probably your most prized possession, right. Yes, that’s what I thought.

You know. I’ve always wondered why the hero’s never bothered to try and deprive the villain of the things they love most, even when the villain is doing it to them. It makes no sense really, why be noble when you could stoop just as low as the villain and win? Easy peasy. I’ll never understand hero’s, or villians that matter. I’d rather just stay neutral to be honest…

...Besides, other people are far more fit for the role of the hero.”

Janus looked directly at Roman when he said this. And Roman saw the sincerity in his eyes. He was implying that Roman was the hero and… he really meant it.

Suddenly it all clicked, this was Janus’ way of apologizing. This was his way of saying ‘I’m sorry.’ he might ot be able to physically say the words. But Roman knew what he meant. And… he was okay with it.

Janus showing that he actually cared… meant a lot.

Roman felt like he was going to tear up. But there wasn’t time for that. Instead he gave Janus a nod and a small smile.

The lying side returned the smile, looking relieved. Then the both of them turned their attention back to Insanity.

“You’re wrong on all of those accounts.” Insanity said, glaring at Janus.

“Oh?” Janus raised an eyebrow. “Then it would be fine if I just… destroyed it.”

Janus pulled a sharp knife out his glove, and held it over the pocket watch.

Insanity tried to laugh it off, but Roman could tell that he was starting to get nervous. “Pssh. A meager knife couldn’t break through that.”

Janus laughed for real this time. “But this isn’t just ‘some meager knife’, I had Roman enchant it for me before we go here.”

Okay, now Janus was bluffing. Roman had never seen that knife in his life. But I mean, it was working.

Janus moved the knife closer to the watch and Insanity’s glare instansified. “Drop the knife.” He hissed.

“Stop the Grey.” Janus replied.

Everyone held their breath.

“You know what.” Insanity said. “Fine. I’ll take the Grey back.”

For a moment Roman’s heart soared, thinking that they had finally done it. Then he saw the look on Insanity’s face.

Something was terribly wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guyssss! So...... this chapter, is extremely intense and very angsty so just a warning. Also sort of major character death? Idk what to call it, anyway, enjoy!

The ground started to violently shake under Roman’s feet and he felt Patton clutch his arm. “What’s happening!” He yelped.

Insanity smiled. “Oh you’ll see! It’s very exciting!”

Roman felt sick to his stomach. They should’ve, no, /he/ should've known better than to try and reason with the Insane. It was a huge mistake. And now they were all about to pay for it.

Roman heard the rumbling sound of something giant coming their way.

“Patton!” Abandoning the knife and the watch, Janus ran over to the two of them, Logan following close behind.

“What are you doing!” Logan yelled at Insanity.

The darker side didn't answer, he just kept smiling. The rumbling was getting louder, and out of the corner of his eye Roman saw the first pillar start to crumble. He tugged the others up.

“C’mon! Get to the middle!” He dragged the three of them to the center of the throne room. A hash wind was picking up, throwing the debris from the pillar around. Roman ducked his head to avoid getting hit.

Insanity started to laugh. And Roman found it extremely disturbing. Because his laugh wasn’t just any laugh. It was a loud maniacal, wicked, menacing cackle, and it made the hair on the back of Roman’s neck stand up.

“There’s nowhere to run.” Insanity said, standing up, the wind was stronger than ever now, but he seemed to be immune to it. “You all were doomed from the moment you got here. You will perish in the Grey. I alone can withstand the damage. Bye, bye now.”

Roman looked up in horror to see something starting to form on the ceiling. “Move now!” He shouted, taking someone’s wrist and dragging them away from the ever growing spiral of wind.

“Is that-a- a tornado?” Patton asked.

“Technically speaking, it’s not physically possible. Tornados actually start from the ground up.” Logan said, trying to keep his glasses from being sucked in.

“Well this isn’t a normal tornado.” Janus snapped. “Can’t you see? It’s made of the Grey.”

“Well how do we stop it!?” Roman asked, pulling them all behind another pillar. They all gripped onto it, in fear that they might be dragged away.

“Here…” Janus’ hand dove into his pocket, he pulled out something red and handed it to Roman. “I figured we might need this.”

Roman took it from him, but just as he did he heard Patton gasp. The creative side looked over to see Logan’s grip on the pillar slowly starting to slip.

“Logan no!” Patton reached out and held tight to his hand.

Logan glanced at him then back at the tornado, “Patton, let go of me.” He said calmly.

“Are you crazy?! No!”

“It’s the most logical solution. You can’t hold me forever. And then we’ll both go into the tornado.”

“You can’t expect me to just leave you!” Patton was yelling now, tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

“Patton!” Logan’s tone was sharp. “I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. Just let me go.” Logan started slipping more and more. He gave the rest of them a final determination look. “I know you guys can do this. If anyone can, it's you Roman…”

“Good luck.” With his final sentiment, Logan dug his nails into Patton’s hand. The morals side let go in pain, and Logan was immediately sucked into the swirling winds.

Everything seemed to stop, just for a moment they seemed to be safe. It was like they were all in a bubble.

“Logan NO!” Patton’s voice cracked as it echoed around the throne room, and Roman could see the tears falling from his eyes. “No! I- I lost- I lost him too… first Virgil… now Logan. WHEN WILL IT STOP!?”

The winds picked up again and they were forced to grip the pillar with all their strength for the second time.

When Patton turned back to them, his expression was broken and angry. Roman had never seen him look like that. “I will take him down. Whatever it takes.” Patton sounded deadly serious.

When Patton lost someone… he was a force to be reckoned with.

“I’m glad Patton.” Janus said. “Now we need to figure out what this note means. I can’t get over the feeling that it’s a clue of some sort.” He took a small slip of paper out of his pocket and read it out loud.

“‘I love my brother. No not in that way stupid. I might be disturbing but I’m not /that/ gross. Also, did I ever mention I’m the one that gave him his first sash? He’s probably going to need it for something important.

“Like Logan said: cryptic. But it definitely means something. Roman. Did Remus give you anything else when he gave you that sash?”

Roman looked down at the red fabric in his hand and concentrated on remembering. “No… I don’t think so. He didn’t really say anything to me either… it was weird. The only time he actually said anything was when he was apologizing for the wonky stitching on one of the sides.”

Janus squinted at him, then seemed to get an idea. He snatched the sash out of Roman’s hand and started ripping at the seam.

“Hey!” Roman shouted. “Stop it!” He tried to snatch the sash back, but he accidentally grabbed Janus’ hand, the hand that was on the pillar.

Roman watched in slow motion as Janus started to fall backward. The lying side tried to catch himself but there was nothing to grab onto.

Then Patton was there, gripping Janus' hand with all of the strength and determination in the world.

Janus sighed, as if he knew that this was going to happen, but still annoyed that it did. “Roman. Patton can’t hold us forever. Like Logan said, but here…” He threw the sash back at Roman who caught it. “Rip the seam, you should find something that’ll help.”

“But-”

“Roman, don’t be an idiot do it. Can’t you see that you’re the only one not completely affected by the winds? It’s obvious that Insanity wants you to do this alone. So just don’t be stupid and defeat him for us.”

Janus smiled. “Be the hero you were always meant to be.”

The lying side turned to Patton, leaving Roman feeling… vulnerable. He didn’t think that he could be the hero. But Janus was right; he wasn’t as affected by the wind as the others were.

He took a deep breath. This was something he had to do. 

“Nice try babe.” Patton said, “I’m not letting go.”

“Patton please. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” Janus pleaded.

“No! Nononono. You can try to convince me but I’m not letting you go! Not like Logan.” He sounded hysterical and Roman could see his damp cheeks.

“Patton please… do it for me. This will all be over soon. I promise.” Janus and Patton locked eyes.

“You- you promise?” Patton asked, tears coming after now.

Janus nodded, “Just hold onto me… and it’ll be okay. You’re not losing me.”

Patton let out a final sob, before letting his grip on the pillar relax. He looked back at Roman, “Good luck kiddo.”

And with that, both of his friends were gone.

Roman’s eyes widened in shock. He- he never expected to be… alone. But… there he was. All alone. Helpless.

The weight of it all suddenly came crashing down on his shoulders and he collapsed to the ground.

“No…” He rasped. “This… this can’t be happening. I can’t- I cant- please. I can’t do this alone. Someone help please…”

The first tears started to steam down his cheeks falling on the sash.

The sash.

Wait.

What did Janus say before?

‘Rip the seam. You’ll find something that helps.’

Roman roughly wiped the tears off his face. He had no time for this. He’d seen countless movies where the hero's almost lost because of grief. So Roman shook the tears out his eyes and stared down at the sash.

‘Rip the seam.’

So Roman did.

He ripped the sash open to find another small slip of paper. He gasped, took it out, and opened it with shaking fingers.

‘Roman, if you’re seeing this then it means that it’s your last resort right? Okay I’m assuming that I’m not around and that could only mean one thing. I’ve turned into my darker side, I don’t know who he is yet. But I know it’s bad. After seeing what happened to you and- well nevermind.

Listen carefully, I think I’ve figured out my untrigger…

It’s you.

You’re my untrigger.

I know there must be a lot of questions running through your head right now… but I don’t have much time. So just please try it.

Remember that paragraph in the book about how to channel your energy. Use that.

Good luck brother.’

As Roman read the last word the paper slipped out of his hand, swirling up and away into the wind.

How could he have missed this!

It was so obvious now!

Ugh.

“Oh Romannnnnnnn! I already know that the rest of your friends are gone. Now come out and face me.”

Roman clenched his jaw. Insanity would pay for this. He was about to step out from behind the pillar when he heard a crash come from the doorway.

He peered around the stone to see his boyfriend come barging into the throneroom.

“Insanity!” Virgil yelled, rushing toward the darker side. “What did you do with him! What did you do with /them/!?”

Insanity laughed, “They’re in there.” He pointed to the tornado.

Virgil spun around and Roman saw his eyes widen.

“You’re too late Virgil.” Insanity laughed, creeping closer arm outstretched.

Heart pounding, Roman jumped out from behind the pillar. “No he’s not!”

Roman watched Virgil’s face light up when he saw him. “Roman! I-“

“No time for that now!” Roman said, pulling out his sword. I need to do something. Remember those sword fighting lessons I gave you when you were six. Well, now’s a good time to use them. Keep him distracted for me k?”

Virgil nodded and Roman tossed him the sword.

Insanity rolled his eyes. “Well now that you’ve told me your plan it won't be hard to stop you-”

He cut off when Virgil lunged at him.

“Yeah sure.” The anxious side said, “Unfortunately for you, Roman’s training methods are extremely effective. All that yelling at us paid off I guess.”

He swiped again, and Insanity was forced to defend himself. He waved his hand, making the Grey Tornado disappear as he rounded on Virgil. It took all of Roman’s self restraint not to jump in and help. But he knew he had to finish this once and for all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrightttt here you go Alex_Ray, it’s short but important to the story

Roman turned his back on the fight and started running through the castle. It was almost habit at this point. He’d been to this room multiple times before, but never in this dire of a situation.

He was out of breath when he finally reached the double oak doors. Sweat was trickling down his forehead and his chest was heaving. He took a second to compose himself before pushing the doors open to reveal a golden room lit by something in the center.

The lifeline.

It’s large orblike form was nothing to the power it possessed. Roman moved toward it cautiously; the lifeline was usually safe, but with Insanity in the castle, there was no telling what it would do.

The orb was pulsing with golden light in the middle of the room. It was majestic, intimidating and oddly creepy at the same time.

As he crept closer, Roman noticed thin grey lines surrounding it.

Insanity’s magic, or energy or whatever you call it.

The creative side needed to figure out how to get the Grey off so he could reach the lifeline’s energy.

As much as Roman hated to admit it, using the lifeline's energy was the only way he could stop Insanity.

See, even though Roman and Remus were twins, didn’t mean that they were the same in every way. Roman had always been jealous of his brother because Remus seemed to have a stronger energy, stronger magic then him.

And it pissed Roman off so much, because me matter how hard he worked, no matter how much he created, Remus’ always seemed to be bigger, better, more imaginative.

He knew that it wasn’t Remus’ fault that he had a bigger power source, but it still hurt.

That’s why Remus was able to unleash his energy, so easily, and why it was much harder for Roman.

And Roman knew he was powerful too, but not as powerful as Remus and Insanity. So he needed reinforcements, and the lifeline could provide that if he could only get the Grey off.

It held so much energy and it could strengthen Roman’s spirit. In turn making him more creative, lively, bright, stronger, ect. 

But he had to be careful, it could easily become too much and overpower him.

So yeah, no pressure.

The book he had found in the castle had given vague details and descriptions of the lifeline but not enough to figure out how to extract the energy.

But Roman didn’t have enough time to figure that out, he had to act now. So he just followed his instincts.

Almost mechanically, the creative side moved toward the lifeline and raised his hand. Careful to avoid the Gray lines, he placed his palm on the surface of the orb.

He immediately felt something stir inside him. As he gazed at the orb, he swore he could feel it breathing. But that wasn’t even the strangest part, it felt… warm.

It felt almost like it was… alive…

Of course!

It /was/ alive! It wasn’t just a ball of energy and magic, it was a whole being. It literally held the entire Imagination together, it was the heart of Thomas’ creativity. /Thomas’/ energy.

And therefore… Thomas’ spirit.

Roman couldn’t believe that all this time, the thing that had given the Imagination life, creativity and light, was actually Thomas. But it made sense if he thought about it. Thomas was their host.

Roman had gained a renewed respect for the lifeline.

Suddenly he felt something brush the back of his neck. Normally he would have jumped around and pulled his sword… but something told him that he was safe here.

Then he heard a whispering in his ear.

‘Place your forehead on the orb.’

Roman had never heard the voice before, and he knew that none of his friends were here. So it had to be the Imagination talking to him… or the lifeline itself.

‘Correct.’ The voice whispered. ‘I am what you call the lifeline of the Imagination. But I am known to Thomas as his spirit. So please heed my warning, we do not have much time. Do you trust me?’

“Yes.”

‘Good, now place your forehead on the orb and focus all your energy into your chest. I will do the rest.’

Roman nodded, and placed his forehead on the orb. Then took a deep breath and focused.

He could do this.

Instead of unleashing his energy and letting it run wild, he tried to channel all of his ideas down into one spot. It took a lot of willpower not to look through them again.

He held his breath as the last of the ideas trickled into his chest.

“I’m ready.” He said, screwing his eyes shut.

There was no response from the voice.

Instead Roman felt a sharp searing pain in his chest. He wasn't prepared and almost collapsed to the ground in pain. Gasping, Roman’s knees buckled. But his legs held strong and he clenched his fists. Nothing would stop him from getting Remus back.

It hurt worse than before, it wasn’t a dull ache. No. It was almost as if Roman was dying. It sure felt like it.

Then just as abruptly as it started, the pain stopped, and Roman was finally able to fall to his knees.

His chest heaved as he gasped for air. He could feel that his cheeks were wet.

‘Good job.’ The voice said, ‘You’re strong Roman. You were before and even more so now. Thank you for freeing me.’

Roman opened his eyes and looked up to see the gold orb glowing brighter than ever before, all traces of Grey vanished.

‘Now I shall return the favor.’

A thin stream of gold burst from the orb and into Roman’s chest. He peered down at it as it settled inside of him.

Then he felt a huge wave of energy, it was more than he had ever felt before. There was no more pain. No more weakness. No more aching limbs.

He felt invincible.

‘Go save us Roman. Be our hero.’


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I’m so sorry for not posting yesterday! I was having panic attack after panic attack so I never got around to it.
> 
> It was also brought to my attention that using the word ‘host’ to describe Thomas is offensive to people with DID, if I offended anyone I’m so sorry. I will refrain from using it again. And thank you to naminethewitch for calling me on it, and if there’s anything else please let me know, this goes for everyone. I don’t want to unintentionally hurt or offend people.
> 
> Anyway, I’m sorry for this chapter being so short.

Roman raced back down the corridors of the castle. He was faster than ever. He bolted down the final hallway and rammed through the throne room doors.

He looked around to see Virgil pinned to the ground by Insanity. The darker side was smiling like a maniac.

“Nice try Virgil but-”

“Hey! Insanity! Come pick on someone your own size.”

Insanity whipped around, spotting Roman. “You’re back. Ready to be eliminated?”

Roman smiled, “Sure, whatever you say.”

Virgil threw Roman’s sword at him and he caught it.

As Insanity charged at him, mace in hand, Roman raised his sword, he could do this.

Insanity took the first swing and Roman dodged it easily. He swung again and Roman blocked it, pretending to yawn. “C’mon, is this all you got?”

Insanity growled and started swinging harder. Roman dodged and blocked everything, never swinging his own sword. He could see the Insanity was growing and smiled.

Then Roman stopped moving all together, and closed his eyes.

“Roman what are you doing!?” Virgil screamed, “He's going to kill you!”

The creative side ignored him, instead focusing his energy. He took a calming breath… and opened his eyes.

Insanity stopped dead in his tracks, staring Roman dead in the face. “What-what’s happening?” He asked, then shook his head, “No matter. I will still destroy you.”

“Remus.” Roman said calmly, his voice sounded distorted and echo-y, “I know you’re in there. I can do some from out here, but the rest is up to you. You need to find it in you to fight him. We can do it together brother.”

Roman let out another breath and the area around him filled with the same gold mist as before.

Suddenly Insanity fell to his knees, shocking everyone in the room. “N-no. I won't let it happen. Roman I’ll-ugh! No! Stop it!”

Roman was rather alarmed when Insanity’s eyes started to glitch. They flashed in between white and black, nothing like their original brown color. His breathing was getting faster and faster, he looked like he was struggling to stay alive.

It was at this moment that Roman realized how much Remus and Insanity looked alike. It had never really registered in his brain that they looked exactly the same. But now, seeing someone that looked so much like his brother, struggle. It was almost too much.

But then Roman had to remind himself that Insanity was the same person that had let his boyfriend fall victim to the Grey. And so he didn’t do anything but stare down at him, contempt and hatred in his gaze.

“Nice try. But you were wrong to try and get in the way of me. Better luck next time.”

“No…ugh…” Insanity sounded like he was being strangled, and it wrenched at Roman’s heart. “No, I-I refuse to let his ha-happen- ugh. UGHHHHHH!”

He started writhing on the ground and Roman turned away, as much as he hated Insanity, he didn’t want to see anyone suffer. He could take seeing this.

“AGHHHHHHHHH!” Insanity let out a final yell, before a light exploded from both his and Roman’s chests.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry again! My mental state is definitely not the best. I hope you all like this chapter!

Roman’s eyes flicked open, he sat up, trying to clear his massive headache.

He glanced around him at the still blurry room. He was confused when he found himself on his bed.

Then he remembered.

Jumping to his feet he spun around. “Insanity! Did it work?”

“Roman! You’re awake!”

Roman turned to his door to see Patton rush in with a wet washcloth in hand. “Are you okay?” the morals side asked anxiously, “What hurts? Does it feel like any broken bones? Janus did his best to patch you up but-”

“Patton I’m fine.” Roman said, cutting in. “I just want to know what happened.”

“Is he awake?” Came a voice from the doorway.

Roman glanced up to see Janus and Logan walk in. “So you guys made it!” Roman said happily. “I’m so glad!”

“No we /totally/ didn’t.” Janus said, his usual snark seeming to be restored. “And it definity /isn’t/ thanks to you. And you’re definitely /not/ the one that saved us… thanks.”

Roman smiled at Janus and he returned it.

“Okay, okay, okay. Step aside Janus. He is /my/ boyfriend not yours.”

Roman peered past Logan’s shoulder to see Virgil leaning against the doorway, smirking.

Roman rolled his eyes, “Jealous much?.”

Virgil smiled, “I’m glad you’re okay.” He said softly.

“Me too-”

Roman cut off in surprise as a black and green blur fell down in front of him, landing with a thud on the floor.

They all jumped and Patton let out a yelp.

“Now /that’s/ how to make an entrance!” Remus said, hauling himself to his feet.

“REMUS!”

Without hesitation, Roman jumped out of bed and tackled his brother to the floor.

“You’re back! You’re really back! Wait- is that you? Or is this one of Insanity’s tricks… BUT IS IT REALLY YOU!?”

Remus laughed and once again, climbed back to his feet. “Yep. It's me! In the flesh… or not.”

Roman’s face broke into a huge smile and he pulled Remus into the biggest hug he had ever given. “I’m so glad you’re okay...”

Both of them would be lying if they said that there weren’t tears starting to form. Even Remus, who was a heaping pile of dumpster fire, had emotions.

“Thank you Roman.” Remus whispered, “You saved us all.”

Roman’s throat tightened and he didn’t respond. He couldn’t. There were no words to describe how relieved and thankful he was. Remus and himself definitely had their differences, but at the end of the day they were still brothers.

When the two of them finally broke apart, Roman opened his mouth, but Logan beat him to it. “You want to know what happened right?”

Roman nodded, “Starting with, how did Virgil get rid of the Grey?”

“When Insanity made that Grey tornado-”

“Grey-nado!” Patton butted in.

Logan looked at him reproachfully, “Fine when Insanity made that… Grey-nado, he pulled all the Grey from the rest of the mindscape to create it. Thus resulting in Virgil waking up from whatever coma he was in.”

“That makes sense.” Roman said, “But then how did I get here?”

“When you finally untriggered Remus, it set off a small explosion. You, Virgil and Remus were all knocked out momentarily. When we found you three in the throne room you were all out cold.” Patton said.

Roman turned over the information in his head, but something wasn’t adding up. His eyebrows creased as he asked, “But… how /did/ you find us? You three with in the tor- Grey-nado.”

Logan looked around at the others, “We’re not exactly sure about that part. I’ve been trying to figure it out but it just doesn’t make any sense. Patton, Janus and I all experienced the same thing. We fell into the Grey-nado and a second later, we were back in the throne room. It seems like there was some sort of time-warp in the Grey-nado.”

“That makes sense.” Roman agreed.

“All that doesn’t matter now though.” Patton said, “We’re all together and safe!”

Logan nodded and looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. “Umm… could Remus and I have a moment alone please?” he asked.

The rest of them exchanged meaningful glances and nodded.

Roman backed out of the room, and they all went to sit in the living room.

Virgil sat next to Roman and took his hand. “Feels good to do that again.” he muttered.

Roman looked over at him, and smiled, “Awwww, did wittle Virgie miss me?”

Virgil’s ears turned red, “Ugh. Shut up Princey.” He snatched his hand out of Roman’s and crossed his arms.

“No! Virge, c’mon. I didn’t mean it.”

Virgil huffed as Roman gave him his best puppy dog eyes. But he kept his arms crossed. Not phased, Roman leaned in closer and closer until his nose was touching Virgil’s cheek.

He was still looking straight forward, although Roman could tell he was struggling to hold in a laugh. Hmm, he was usually easier to crack.

Welp.

At least he had one last trick up his sleeve.

Very slowly Roman shifted so he was nose to nose with his boyfriend. Then stuck his tongue out, and crossed his eyes.

He waited for Virgil to chuckle or giggle, but neither happened.

“Whatever.” Roman said, before leaning in, closing the distance between their lips.

Roman kissed him softly. He heard Virgil sigh and he kissed back, cupping Roman’s cheek. The creative side took one hand off his cheek and held it close to his chest, running his thumb up and down the palm of his boyfriend’s hand.

Virgil finally broke the kiss by pulling Roman into a hug.

Roman buried his face in Virgil’s neck and whispered, “I’m glad we made it out of there. Thank you.”

When they pulled away, Roman leaned back on the couch and Virgil rested his head on Roman’s shoulder.

Roman chuckled a little and glanced down at their still intertwined hands. He held them up for Virgil to see. “Haha.” 

Virgil rolled his eyes but didn’t let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the little thing that Roman and Virgil did at the end? I couldn’t help but put something that me and my s/o do sometimes.
> 
> If you’re reading this hiiiiiiiiiii<3


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep it’s still goin but this should be it! The last chapter! Also, this series might be going on hiatus for a bit, just because I’m still in school and it’s very stressful. But I’ll probably be updating my one-shot book still. I just don't think I have the energy for another book right now. Idk when I’m going to get back to it, but hopefully soon!

“Hey you two!”

Roman and Virgil looked up to see Patton standing in front of them.

“Will you go get Logan and Remus? I’m about to make dinner. They’re probably starving, I know I am.”

The two of them nodded and got up, walking (still hand and hand) to Roman’s room. Roman reached for the knob, but Virgil pulled him back and pressed his ear to the door.

Roman got the hint, sniggered mischievously, and also pressed his ear to the door. But they were both disappointed when they didn’t hear anything.

Looking disappointed, Virgil pushed open the door. “Dinner’s read- oh. Sorry we’ll come back later.”

Roman peered over his shoulder to see Logan and Remus huddled together. Remus had his arms wrapped around Logan, holding him tightly.

And Logan looked like he was… crying? But Logan never cried…

Both Remus and Logan whipped around when they heard Virgil and Roman walk in. Logan jumped and pushed Remus off of him.

“Um… hello.”

“Hello…” Roman said slowly, not quite knowing how to react.

Virgil cleared his throat, “Patton says dinner’s ready.”

Logan straightened his tie, “Tell him we’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Virgil nodded, and then he and Roman left the room in an awkward silence.

When the door finally closed, both of them walked down the hall a little faster than usual. “I have the feeling we weren’t supposed to see that.” Roman said out of the corner of his mouth.

Virgil snorted and rolled his eyes, “No shit Sherlock.”

… 

Soon the two of them were seated down at the kitchen table with the rest of the sides and a huge dinner.

Roman felt as if his heart were about to burst as he looked around at his friends. They all looked so happy, so bright and vibrant now that the threat of Insanity was gone.

Remus especially, his vigor was restored along with his peculiar sense of humor. And Roman had never seen him happier. That warmed his heart.

And Virgil, who he thought he had actually lost, was okay and healthy, and just as sarcastic as ever.

Patton of course was his usual bubbly self, but he too seemed to have more of a bounce in his step.

Hell, even Logan looked less cynical.

What surprised Roman the most was when he looked at Janus. Instead of feeling his usual contempt and hatred toward the lying side, he felt almost… happy. Maybe Janus wasn’t so bad after all… 

Roman’s thoughts were soon interrupted though, because Patton had called everyone to attention.

“I just wanted to say I’m proud of you all, you worked so hard to defeat Insanity and now we have Remus back!” He announced, “If anything I’d say this brought us closer together.” He looked pointedly at Janus ad Roman, who rolled their eyes.

“And also-”

“Patton.” Virgil groaned, “Enough with the cheesy speech.”

“Fine, fine, but I just want you to know that I love you all.”

Even Virgil couldn’t object to that, and Patton sat back down.

Everything seemed perfect. Like they could finally relax, but Roman should’ve known better. Nothing was ever this easy.

“I have a question.” Logan said, putting down his fork and knife.

“Yeah?” Patton asked.

“I heard Roman shout something the other day, and I just wanted to be clear on it before I jump to any conclusions.”

Roman felt his heart drop.

Shit.

“Who is ‘The Puppeteer’?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh! I’m sorry!!!!! But anyway, thank you so much for reading! Y’all are amazing and I hope you have a great day!


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